Simulated stone molded building products include simulated stone veneers which are used as a lightweight veneer facing on masonry and on metal framed or wood framed construction for architectural aesthetics. The simulated molded building products can be used for exterior applications such as building walls or interior applications such as fireplaces. Simulated building products include capstones, hearthstones, keystones, trim stones and the like. The simulated stone building products are usually lower in cost than the natural stones that they replace. CULTURED STONE® products are simulated stone products manufactured by the Cultured Stone Corporation, a division of Owens Corning, Napa, Calif. The CULTURED STONE® product line includes hundreds of designs of precast stone veneers and architectural trim products that replicate an extensive variety of textures, sizes, shapes and colors of natural stone and non-natural stones (including but not limited to bricks or brick veneer), i.e., colors that do no occur in nature. The simulated stone products are manufactured using molds taken from natural stones. The molds generally include a flexible layer having at least one mold cavity that is filled with a castable material. The castable material is cured, or set, and formed into the simulated building product.
The building product removal process, however, can be especially difficult and often expensive due to the amount of manual labor needed to remove the simulated building product from the mold without damaging either the building product or the mold. In situations where the mold has more than one type of shaped mold cavity it is especially difficult to efficiently and safely remove each type of simulated building product from the mold.